Chapter 3159: "Romantic" Wedding Season (43)

The players in this game included Shiller, Stark, Peter, Wanda, Eddie, Nick, and Steve.

The reason for the lack of other players was because, in the first round of the game, everyone had to use cards from their own faction, and their respective factions were: Shiller, Iron Man, Spider Man, Mutant, Symbiont, S.H.I.E.L.D., and The Avengers.

There were also other factions, such as the Scientist Camp, Three Great Empire Camp, Little Animals Camp, and Magic Camp, but they were still incomplete and thus did not participate in this game.

Before the game started, a host had to be chosen. Although the other non-players were eager to volunteer, Shiller still brought in Doctor Strange, wielder of the Power of Dreams.

The Doctor wasn't very interested in card games, but he was somewhat curious about superheroes; after all, he was going to establish the Dream Bureau. He couldn't just use Doctor Strange; it would be ideal if he could recruit some people from Battleworld. Since he needed their help, it was only natural for him to work diligently.

The game officially began.

Shiller picked up a set of his own cards, basically encompassing all the frequently used standard and morbid states, except for Greed and Arrogance. The standard states also included Moonlight, Mediocre, and Bishop—yes, Shiller brought the Bishop as well.

The Bishop was unlike all other standard and morbid states; it was from the Magic Side, mainly used to deal with late-game Magic Streams and some magic events.

Dream Power Doctor Strange picked up the dice, the primal dice, to be precise—three of them, each with eight faces corresponding to the numbers 1 to 8, eight suits, and eight colors. Throwing them together would determine the initial character to enter the battle based on the combination of color, suit, and number that appeared.

After the three dice were thrown, what appeared was an orange, heart-shaped seven. In Shiller's hand, the corresponding cards were the odd-numbered Arrogance, the heart-shaped Greed, and the orange-colored Art.

The skills of Arrogance and Greed have been introduced before, while Art's skill was relatively simple by comparison—a support card.

Art: Using an enemy unit on the field as a model, create an astounding masterpiece. After two turns, there is a one-third chance of transforming it into a "Masterpiece," "Red Fish," or "Failed Product."

Masterpiece: An indescribable, awe-inspiring work of art. When it appears, all characters on the field lose 30% of their health and gain a state of panic. Afterward, every action has about a ten percent chance of causing the character to discard a card.

Red Fish: A lively, thrashing red fish. Each turn, its action is replaced by struggling, summoning a Blood card for Shiller with 30% of its attributes.

Failed Product: Meaningless ashes discard a card.

Shiller placed these three cards on the field and observed the situation around him. Fortunately, Wanda didn't use Professor X or Magneto. In the new version of the game, both of them were not summons but could be directly played.

Shiller thought that Professor X could enter the field, but since Wanda didn't play him, she must be valuing his education attribute, meaning to keep him in hand to boost the attributes of other cards. She might be planning to accumulate enough for an invincible Magneto in a few turns.

But she was still too young. Now was not the time for a developmental version. This must be a fast-attack version, as could be seen from the Heroic skills on everyone's cards; trying to slowly build up attributes was a sure path to defeat.

Stark certainly saw this too, which was why he immediately played three trump cards from the Stark Camp: War Machine, Iron Man, and Pepper Potts. On top of that, the Stark Group Headquarters was already constructed in the buildings' row, and after this turn had passed, he would directly earn 25 points. At the start of the second turn, he would be able to buy a decent Mecha, which had a starting attack attribute of at least seven points, and Shiller's cards could barely survive a couple of blows.

Nick adopted a more conservative strategy, playing a Nick, a Coulson, and a face-down card for S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick's skill, "King of Special Agents," allowed him to directly lay cards face down during character card play, reflecting the attribute of special agents covertly carrying out missions. Building and equipment cards could also be laid face down, and this set of cards had a thorough system of measures to protect against discards—all aimed squarely at countering Shiller's strategy.

Shiller snorted inwardly. Nick must be betting that he couldn't play Hunting on the first turn. That face-down card was either Black Widow or Hill, and both of them were legendary supports.

Natasha's skill was "Seduction," which simply meant that after meeting certain conditions, she could directly take your cards—not that it mattered much in this game, as burning cards wasn't allowed.

Peter probably also aimed for stability. He played a card of himself, now named "Lucky Boy," Gwen Spiderman who had a Fast Attack skill, and Shadow Spider-man capable of shooting, prepared for both close and long-range combat.

Steve's leadership of The Avengers camp surprised everyone because he directly played Captain America, The Hulk, and Daredevil Matt.

As many cards from The Avengers camp had been reassigned to other camps, perhaps as a balance compensation, the individual cards for this camp were extremely powerful.

For example, Captain America came with a Shield equipment card. The skill of the equipment was as follows: In defense mode, it made Captain America immune to all negative statuses and had a 50% chance of nullifying any attack. In attack mode, each attack added the dice number to the damage, and after attacking, the equipment card would return to Captain America's owner's hand and could be played in the next turn regardless of the dice roll.

This meant that the equipment card was bound to Captain America; if someone else snatched it, it would still return to Captain America's owner after an attack. Moreover, there was a fifty percent chance to be immune to all damage. To hit Captain America, fatal damage would be necessary; otherwise, it would be very difficult.

Eddie, on the other hand, seemed to be arguing with Venom, babbling and not placing any cards. Eventually, Dream Power Doctor Strange forcefully interrupted the two, and Eddie reluctantly played two cards.

One of them was Venom, whose skill was quite interesting as well; it kept the Split ability from the previous version, but this time, it did not split directly but rather produced offspring, similar to other cosmos' Venoms.

Venom could produce random offspring on the field every turn, about seven or eight, selected at random. The stats on each one were absurd, but there were also rebellious offspring, the kind that would attack their own side.

This breeding was forced, so Eddie initially did not want to play this card. What if he drew a rebellious offspring that ended up attacking him?

But of course, Venom wanted to be played because he had another skill: if there were already offspring on the field, he could go and symbiote with others, causing them trouble.

His obvious plan was to throw down an offspring in the first turn and then go cause chaos elsewhere, much to Eddie's frustration.

Shiller saw this and thought that even though his hand was strong, there were others even stronger—there wasn't a single weak faction among these camps. A fierce battle was looming.

The round started with a War Roar, which meant all the cards marked with "Upon entry" or "At the start of the turn" effects started the card drawing process.

The first card Shiller had to draw was the Arrogant Paper Card. He prayed in his heart for Bruce's thesis, so he could play Hunting next turn and target whomever he wanted for elimination.

Dream Power Doctor Strange tapped his Magic Wand lightly on the deck, and several cards floated in the air, lining up in front of Shiller. After hesitating for a moment, he chose the second card from the right.

The card flipped over, revealing Harley's face.

It was a pity he didn't draw Bruce's card, but Harley's was also useful. She could add a defense-breaking effect to the umbrella, meaning penetrating all defense states of the opponent and increasing the damage they took by 50%.

A small defense-breaking badge created by Wanda was magically sent by Dream Power Doctor Strange to the umbrella in Shiller's equipment slot. This magnetic badge that could be directly attached to a card made it easy for players to observe.

The sight of this badge made everyone else draw a sharp breath—the game hadn't fully unfolded yet, everyone's health was low, and various buffs hadn't been applied. Taking a hit in this state could lead to death or at least severe injury.

Shiller snorted, just you wait until I annihilate your key characters and show you the power of my unstoppable Fast Attack.

Greed still needed to target five characters to enact Greed's big plan, but there was an issue.

Greed's attribute required damaging without killing—if anyone were killed not only would there be no Points awarded, but he would also have to discard cards. But now with the defense-breaking property on the umbrella, whoever he struck would be done for. Wouldn't Greed inevitably lose cards?

Knowing his luck wasn't that great, Shiller rubbed his forehead. These effects were mandatory, not optional, meaning that in choosing five people, he was effectively handing out protective umbrellas to the opposition.

With so few players on the field, the ones who could survive a hit from the umbrella were mostly key characters, such as Iron Man from the Iron Man faction, Captain America and The Hulk from The Avengers, and Venom from Eddie's group, among others.

Given no choice but to select five, he could only choose these individuals. If Greed deducted cards, then there'd be no future in the game.

After considering, Shiller selected the five main characters of the other players, perfectly protecting the main characters of the other factions, aside from those already mentioned. This included Wanda from the Mutant faction.

Not only could he not kill them, but he also had to prevent others from doing so. You've really outdone yourself, Shiller, he thought to himself, expertly kicking yourself when you're down.

Once he finished choosing, the others were elated—it was as if Shiller had formed an alliance with each of them. They knew all about Greed; he might not fear death, but losing money was unacceptable to him. He would be fully motivated by self-interest.

Then came the selection of art cards. Shiller chose Iron Man again but was also worried about creating a masterpiece because that would deduct health from the group. With their health already low, if everyone lost health, they'd be even more vulnerable.

During the action round, the dice were cast to determine the order of play. Spider-Man went first, and sure enough, Shadow Spider-Man with his heavy sniper rifle went "bang" and shot at Greed.

Shiller jumped in shock, immediately confronting Peter, "What did I ever do to you?!"

The others were frantic—If you kill Greed, who's going to protect us?!

However, Daredevil Matt quickly perceived Peter's tactic.

Greed did not protect Spider-Man, meaning Greed was in an alliance with the others while Spider-Man was on his own. If Spider-Man wanted to attack others, Greed would try to stop him because he didn't want to lose money. So it made sense to nip the problem in the bud.

Shadow Spider-Man's shot was painful—Greed was left with only half his health. And Gwen Spiderman had Fast Attack, meaning she could act twice in one turn. With two swift blows, Greed wouldn't even have to worry about deducting cards—he'd be carried off right away.

Shiller gasped, "Hold on, Peter! Aren't I your good doctor anymore?!"

"It's just a game, Doctor," Peter replied, "but I'm only trying to press down your health, not planning on taking you out right now."

With that, Peter activated his Spider Silk Launcher and pulled Venom into the center of the arena.